


the art of dating

by not_ginger



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 18:15:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17688413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_ginger/pseuds/not_ginger
Summary: “So you want me to stay and pretend to be your… boyfriend?”





	the art of dating

**Author's Note:**

> I seem to love "Grace" AUs. I wonder why

She’s going to kill her brother.

Sam stares at the phone in her hand like it’s her mortal enemy. Is she really that pathetic that her no longer estranged brother wants to help her get a life?

A life, she told him, she wasn’t interested in at the moment.

The doorbell ringing startles her out of her thoughts. “Shit,” she says. It’s can’t be them, can it?

She considers sending a text to Daniel, asking him to call her in fifteen minutes with some fake emergency, but then the doorbell rings again.

Sam lets out a long breath and silently approaches the door to look who’s there.

“Sir,” she exclaims, so very happy it’s him and not Mark and his friend. “What are you doing here?”

The Colonel frowns, caught off guard by her enthusiasm. “Hey, Carter,” he says carefully. “I, uh, I just wanted to drop off your laptop.”

It’s Sam’s turn to frown. She remembers taking it to his place yesterday because there was something she wanted to show the guys, and clearly she left it there. “Oh. Thank you.” She takes the bag from him, still frowning.

“You alright?”

“Yes. No. Well, yes and no?”

“Anything I can do to help?”

Sam looks at him then, really looks at him. There’s no doubt she could use his help, but he’s also Colonel Jack O'Neill, her commanding officer and the man she’s not supposed to have feelings for.

Of course on the other hand she faces a very long and awkward evening with her brother and his _single_ friend.

“You can say no,” she starts and gestures for him to come in. “But I do need your help. I wouldn’t ask you if I had another idea.”

He stops in the hall. “Carter, you’re scaring me.”

Sam takes a deep breath. _Why is this her life?_ “Can you pretend to be my date?” she blurts out.

Jack doesn’t react, he just stares at her. “What?”

She sighs, feeling her cheeks redden. “Remember how you always say I need a life?” He nods. “Well, apparently my brother thinks so, too. Despite the fact that I have no time for it. He’s visiting me for the weekend. But just minutes ago he called and said he’d run into his old buddy, and he’d like me to meet him.”

The Colonel shifts from one foot to the other. “Maybe it’s not a bad idea.”

Sam stares at him. “Maybe people should listen to what _I_ say. Sir.”

Jack winces. “Right. Uh, can’t you just tell him that?”

“I did. And he let it go. I don’t think this is an intentional set up. But if I do bring it up again with them here, it’s just going to get really awkward.”

“So you want me to stay and pretend to be your… boyfriend?” Jack asks, his face completely unreadable.

“If you don’t mind?” Sam says, her voice small.

“Well, you’re a member of my team. And this is clearly a hostile situation. I can hardly let you deal with it yourself.” He pauses and looks at her. “Honey.”

Still feeling slightly mortified, Sam presses her palms to her face and laughs. _How is this her life?_

 

***

 

Jack stands in his second in command’s kitchen and stares at his hands, not really knowing what to do.

He can’t leave. He doesn’t really want to leave and, like he said, let Carter deal with it alone. Not that he doubts her, but she did ask him. And he was stupid enough to agree.

Her _boyfriend_. The word sounds strange even in his own head, but it also makes him think of that future they might have one day. _If_ they stop getting stranded on planets and ships of course. Will they really be boyfriend and girlfriend then?

“What’s so funny?” Carter asks, walking past him to grab a bottle of beer from the fridge.

“What?”

“You’re smiling,” she says.

Jack hastily schools his expression and coughs. “Uh, nothing. Just thinking.”

Carter nods. “I know, sir. It’s weird. You can still leave if you want.”

_But that's the thing, he doesn't._ “You can’t call your boyfriend ‘sir’, you know?” he says instead. “That is weird. Unless of course you’re into that kind of stuff,” he trails off when he notices her frown and figures he should shut up. “Uh, do you have another one?” He gestures to the beer in her hand, not looking her in the eye.

Before she can say anything the doorbell rings and she takes a deep breath. “Here we go.”

She gives him a small smile and goes to answer the door, but Jack hesitates and opens the fridge instead of following her, he could really use a beer right about now.

A tall man enters the kitchen first. He doesn’t look anything like Carter, but he does look like her, well their, dad. Carter follows him, and another man walks in behind her.

“Uh, this is my brother Mark,” she says. “And his friend.”

“Pete Shanahan,” the man says with a smile.

“And this is Jack O'Neill. My,” She hesitates, and Jack’s willing to bet good money she's thinking that ‘boyfriend’ sounds too silly. There needs to be another word for that. Companion? Lover? Soul mate?

“Her plus one,” Jack says, watching her reaction. If she’s surprised, she doesn’t show it. _Partner_ , he suddenly thinks, _a life partner doesn't sound too bad_.

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Pete jokes, and Jack sees Carter’s shoulders relax. Maybe it’s not going to be awkward after all.

 

***

 

“Well, I have to head back,” Pete says rising to his feet. “Dinner was lovely.” He smiles at Carter.

“It was just pizza,” she says.

“Ah, but it was a good pizza,” Jack says and grins as she rolls her eyes at him.

The four of them walk to the door to see Pete off. He shrugs on his jacket and holds out a hand to Jack. “It was nice to meet you.”

Jack shakes it. “You too.”

“I’ll call you,” Pete tells Mark and the other man nods. “Say hi to the missus.”

Mark grins. “Go home.”

Pete ignores him and turns to Carter. “Now that I’ve met you, I can say it, you are definitely the nicer sibling.”

That makes her laugh and Mark roll his eyes. Jack thinks it makes him look a lot like his sister.

“Oh, you just haven’t gotten on Sam’s bad side,” Jack says grinning and wanting to tease her.

“And you have?” Mark asks.

“I’ve seen her positively destroy other people, so I try my best to behave.”

Sam glares at him, but Mark and Pete laugh. “Amen,” he says.

When the door finally closes behind him, Sam turns to Jack. “Destroy?”

“Just to be clear, I’m not at all surprised,” Mark says.

“Seriously? Both of you?”

Jack steps behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders, giving her a gentle push to make her move forward. “Just face it, Carter, you’re a force to be reckoned with.”

She just huffs and goes to the kitchen with Mark following her, but Jack lingers in the living room, picking up another thin slice of pizza and glancing at his watch, he should probably go home too.

Chewing, he takes a few steps towards the kitchen, but Mark’s hushed voice stops him in his tracks.

“I have to say at first I thought you’d just asked your colleague to play the part.”

Carter makes a sound at the back of her throat. “That would be really pathetic of me, wouldn’t it?”

Jack frowns, that’s exactly what happened. Does she really think so?

“I guess,” Mark says. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re happy.”

Sam says something in response, too quietly for Jack to hear, so he figures the conversation is over and retreats to the dining table. After counting to ten, he calls out her name.

She appears in the doorway. “What?”

“I should go, too.” He walks up to her.

“You’re not going to stay?” Mark asks, eyeing him curiously.

Jack pointedly looks at him and Sam. “Uh, not today.”

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Sam says, watching Jack and Mark exchange goodbyes and a handshake.

It’s dark and chilly outside and they walk to his car in silence.

“Thank you for doing this for me,” she says quietly.

He wants to brush it off as if it’s not a big deal, but then she raises her head to look at him and it strikes him how sad she looks. It pulls on his heartstrings, makes him want to make her laugh, but this time he suspects he knows the reason, and there’s nothing he can do.

Or is there?

He can retire, of course. He can’t be SG-1’s leader forever. And maybe this day of pretending has shown him something about them. Like how they just seem to fit together. Maybe this is more important?

But she still stands there, looking sad and having no idea what he's thinking about. “Of course,” he says, his words slow and measured.

She smiles, a small smile, and Jack feels his heart rate speed up. _Is he insane?_

Maybe he is.

He raises a hand to gently brush her bangs away from her face. “Carter.”

She freezes, her eyes wide. “What are you doing?”

“ _Not_ playing the part?”

Sam lets out a gasp, but doesn’t move away. Her lips part slightly as he leans closer. Closer and closer, giving her a change to say that it’s a bad idea, until his lips finally touch hers. He keeps it light. _It doesn’t have to mean anything_ , he thinks. It’s just one chaste kiss.

But then Sam’s hands grip his jacket, pulling him closer to her, her mouth opens under his and she kisses him back.

He bites back a moan. He was a fool to think that one kiss that technically never happened three years ago could ever be enough. And as one of her hands slides into his hair, he figures whatever comes next they’ll figure it out. Together.


End file.
